


Moving Day

by jbn42



Series: Dog Park [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: BB-8 Ships It, Bee Ships It, Careful Poe, Dog BB-8, Dorks, F/M, Fluff, Forward Rey, moving day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-04 00:44:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21188738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jbn42/pseuds/jbn42
Summary: Poe and his dad help Rey move, and Rey starts to push Poe a little.





	Moving Day

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Wasn’t going to do Damerey Week, ended up doing Day 6 (pets and fave AU), and now, well, there may be some one-shots from Dog Park Girl and Flyboy focusing on the time between the meet-cute and the wedding. And yeah, this is largely unrepentant fluff. If I think of other one-shots to write about them, I will add to this series as standalones.
> 
> Also, I got a lot of lovely comments on the first one-shot, and I so appreciate them – I am HORRIBLE about responding to comments, so I want folks to know that I really love them and am grateful for them.
> 
> Disclaimer per usual – I do not own Star Wars or any aspect of the SW universe; just a fan with an idea. No profit here, just fun for me.

Waking up to the beeping of the alarm on her phone, Rey sits up in the lumpy bed and stretches. Remembering that it’s Saturday morning and that it’s been a week since she met Poe and Maz and signed a lease, she looks around the boring, soulless extended-stay suite bedroom and softly says, “Last morning waking up here.”

That is enough to propel her out of bed and into the bathroom to wash her face and get ready for the day. After a week of cleaning and paint touch ups (and the color change to the living room wall that Maz endorsed and Rey painted herself a few days ago), her apartment is ready. Poe is helping her move today, along with Kes, Poe’s dad. She blinks and looks at her reflection.

She and Poe have only had time for one date this week, dinner after the seminar she helped give at the Academy. He was lovely, a true gentleman, so much so that she’s a little concerned that the original crush is waning, leaving only friendship behind. Her crush on him hasn’t waned at all, of course. The man found her a place to live, and he also gave her an odd sort of surrogate aunt in Maz. And now she’s going to meet his dad.

She sighs and grabs her toothbrush. After brushing thoroughly, she stuffs the toothbrush in her bag. She then puts her hair back in the two french braids, only blushing a tiny bit. After Maz had shown her the apartment – which is wonderful – Poe let her get him a cup of coffee (which turned into several, so maybe that was their first date) as a thank you, and he’d spent half of the afternoon that they ended up spending together playing with her braids. She knows for certain that he likes them.

She pauses, thinking about the apartment. Apparently, Poe had lived there for a year and a half, and then Maz used it for a year herself when she was renovating her own house. It’s a really nice space. High end countertops and appliances in the kitchen and a great walk-in shower in the bathroom, with pretty old wooden floors, high ceilings, and a few nice windows, one with a wonderfully padded window seat. It’s not overly big – maybe 500 square feet – but it’s plenty big enough for her scant belongings.

She does have a decent sleeper sofa and coffee table, a nice new queen bed with a platform storage frame, and a small dining table and a few small area rugs that she bought this week (OK, Poe helped her take those to the apartment this week and they had burgers after; maybe that was a date too). She also has some old art and movie posters that she loves. It won’t take long to make the place homey.

After pulling on a comfy sweatshirt over a form-fitting tank top, some yoga pants, and a pair of Converse, she zips up her suitcase and looks around to make sure she has everything as she puts her over-full messenger bag across her body. Poe is picking her up soon in his dad’s truck. She wants to get a car, but it hasn’t been that high on her list.

Poe’s townhouse isn’t an easy walk from the apartment, so it’s getting higher. She blinks at that thought as she lets her door close behind her, and she admonishes herself for it. She mutters, “He’s not your boyfriend, Rey, stop acting like he is. He hasn’t even tried to kiss you yet, outside of little pecks on the cheek.” Taking a deep breath, she drags her suitcase down the hall. She just needs to focus on the move and unpacking today.

X X X X X X

As he pulls his dad’s truck into the parking lot of the extended-stay hotel where Rey has been living, he has to steel himself for the day. He is completely head over heels for Rey – or, in his dad’s words the night before, “ass over teakettle” – and he doesn’t want to scare her away or make her uncomfortable by being too enthusiastic.

He parks in front of the entrance, and he rubs a hand on the back of his neck. It has been way too long since he was in the dating game; he is so out of practice that it’s laughable. He grins for a moment, thinking about helping her with some rugs and a new little dining table earlier this week, followed by burgers. She’d put away a half-pound blue cheese and bacon burger like it was nothing. It was, in a word, impressive.

He made his dad promise him not to grill Rey or be overly emotive. Poe has already figured out that she’s a little shy around strangers and more than a little reserved, basically the polar opposite of Kes Dameron, who is never slow to smile, hug, and laugh. He’s still blown away that Rey didn’t run screaming from him at the dog park last weekend. She was a little wary when he asked about her school, and he understands that – he’s glad she felt like he was trustworthy.

Maz has also sort of adopted Rey, fussing over her in a way that reminds him of how she used to fuss over him when he first came home from his last deployment to Afghanistan, the one where he blew out his shoulder. He’s OK now, but it took some time. With Rey, he can tell that she’s a little amused by the fussing, but in a sweet way that doesn’t make him feel the need to tell Maz to please ease up. He also heard Rey asking Maz about her espresso machine and revealing that she worked her way through college in a coffee shop. He’d bet anything that Maz will get Rey to help out in the shop within a week.

He waits for Rey, stealing glances at the door of the hotel, and then double-checking his admittedly unruly hair in the mirror and dusting an invisible speck from his jeans. He wearing them with hiking boots and an old USAF t-shirt and hoodie. He knows he’ll get hot helping carry Rey’s stuff up the stairs, and he says a silent prayer that his shoulder holds up today.

Catching movement, his face breaks into a grin when he sees Rey emerge with a giant suitcase, looking completely adorable in her braids again. He also loves that her two favorite shoe styles seem to be Chuck Taylors or hiking boots. He jumps out to help her with the suitcase, but she rolls her eyes at him and tosses the suitcase in the back of the pickup with relative ease. He puts his hands up in surrender. “OK, Sunshine. Latte is up front, and Dad is waiting for us at your storage place with the U-Haul truck.”

She grins. “Bless you. The coffee maker here is so crappy.”

They both head to the cab of the truck and climb in. As she settles down in her seat, he looks over and smiles at her, still not at all certain how he got lucky enough just to be here with her. He can’t resist reaching over and playing with a braid for a moment, giving her plenty of time to move out of reach first. “Good morning, by the way.”

She nods and gives him a look that’s suddenly a little shy, but she peers at him through her eyelashes again (and it fairly kills him when she does that) and says, “Good morning, and thank you for the coffee.”

“Anytime, Sunshine.” He drops the braid, again trying not to seem weird or creepy.

As he pulls his hand back, she reaches up and catches it with hers, entwining their fingers and letting their now-joined hands come to rest on the truck’s console between them. He’s almost breathless at the small contact, which he knows is ridiculous. He must stare at her for a while, because she eventually gives him an amused look while saying, “You OK, Flyboy? Isn’t your dad waiting?”

He lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah, right.” He squeezes her hand before reluctantly releasing it to put the truck in gear. All he can hope for is that he won’t look hopelessly smitten when his dad sees him with Rey, because he will seriously never hear the end of it.

X X X X X X

Rey is almost disappointed when he releases her hand, but she knows it’s because he had to drive. She sips at the perfectly made vanilla latte, and she is quite certain that he went to Maz to get it. The leaves are all turning, so she looks out the window, enjoying the view while she drinks her coffee.

Even so, she leaves her arm on the console near where his rests, his hand loose on the gear shift. She’ll occasionally brush her arm against his, and she hopes that he gets the message that he isn’t making her uncomfortable at all. She saw his eyes turn down slightly earlier when he realized that he’d been playing with her braid again, and she really wants him to know that she doesn’t mind. If she wasn’t a bit frustrated by the lack of progress between them, she knows she’d find his care and caution on this endearing.

It’s a short ride to the storage place where she has her things. When they pull up to the building where her unit is, there is a small U-Haul truck there (she assured him that the small one was more than enough), and a man who is undeniably related to Poe is leaning against it, also drinking coffee. When she gets out, the man’s resemblance to Poe is even clearer. The man is a little taller and slighter than Poe, and his eyes are not as large and his hair stick-straight and shot through with silver. But almost everything about him from the shape of his jaw to his coloring to his smile are the same as Poe.

Just as she’d had to snap him out of staring at her earlier, she jumps slightly when Poe’s voice near her ear says, “Yes, that’s my dad. Eyes and hair are from Mom. The rest of me is mostly him.”

Rey blushes lightly, shaking her head. “Sorry. And yes, I can see that.” She smiles at him, and he puts a hand lightly on her lower back, guiding her over to the man.

As they approach, the man looks up, his face lighting up with an infectious grin. “Mijo! Took you long enough!” He looks at Rey. “And you must be Dog Park Girl. I’m Poe’s Dad, but you can call me Kes.”

Rey laughs out loud as Poe groans, and she extends her hand. Kes takes it, firmly shaking her hand. She replies, “Yes, apparently that’s me. Dog Park Girl, also known as Rey Kenobi. It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

He waves off the formality. “Please, mija, it’s just Kes, not sir.”

She smiles, charmed by the endearment, and she nods. “Kes.”

Kes turns to Poe, and Rey has to laugh loudly again when Kes says, “No wonder you had to work up the courage to go talk to her, mijo. She’s beautiful like your mom was.” She can’t help but actually be jealous of the ease and gentleness with which Maz and Kes both appear to exhibit when ribbing Poe.

“Dad!” Poe rubs a hand over his eyes, and Rey can tell that Poe is less enamored with the teasing than she is.

Kes grins, and he turns back to Rey. “Which unit is it, mija, and can I have the key?”

She tells him and tosses him the keys on a small ring, watching as he goes into the small storage building with a flatbed cart. She turns to Poe and takes his free hand, squeezing. “It’s awfully sweet, you know?”

Poe drops his other hand and looks at her. “What is?”

“The way your dad and Maz both tease you.” She squeezes his hand again. “And in case you’re worried about it, I think it’s cute, not embarrassing.”

He shrugs sheepishly. “Just wait until they’ve both known you long enough to start doing it to you, too.”

She knows Poe meant it lightly, but she sees her chance to start being a little more direct with him, and she takes it. Softly, she replies, “I’d love to be around them long enough for that to happen.” She then leans up slightly, pressing a soft, quick kiss, basically just a peck, to his lips instead of his cheek this time.

He blinks, and she reaches up and ruffles his hair before grabbing another flatbed cart and following Kes. When it’s clear that he isn’t following, she looks back over her shoulder and calls, “You coming, Flyboy?”

X X X X X X

Her call back to him makes him shake off his surprise at the fact that she kissed him, actually kissed him, and follow her. “Right behind you, Sunshine.” When he gets to the storage unit, he must have a stupid grin on his face, because Kes gives him a knowing look that makes him roll his eyes. He surveys her things, avoiding looking at his dad, and he thinks of something. “Rey?”

She comes over to him, looking shy again but also with a brightness to her eyes that makes him warm up from the inside. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”

He shakes his head. “No, not at all. I was just wondering if you have anything to fill up the open space in the kitchen?” He refers to the fact that the kitchen is open, with room enough for a small table in addition to the dining area. “Something to break up the room a little?”

She shakes her head. “No, I was thinking about going looking for an island or something next week.”

“No need.” She looks confused, and he explains, “I have one if you want to use it. It’s from Ikea, but it’s actually really nice and heavy, big, shelves on one side and space for two barstools, which I also have, on the other side.”

“You’d let me use it? Don’t you need it?” She blinks, and he can see that she’s interested.

“Yes, you can use it, and no, I don’t need it. My townhouse has a nice kitchen with a built in island, so it’s just sitting in storage. This same facility, to be exact.” He gives her a smile, starting to fully regain his equilibrium after she kissed him.

She leans up and kisses him again, this time just on his cheek. “I’d love that. Thank you so much, Poe. You’re already doing so much for me – you really don’t have to do anything else, you know?”

“I do know, but I’m doing things because I want to, not because I have to.” He cups her cheek with his palm, and then he turns to his dad. “Dad?”

Kes comes over, his flatbed almost loaded to take out. “What’s up, kids?”

“Do you remember that island and the two stools I had when I lived at Maz’s?” Poe asks.

“Sure. Helped you bring it in and build it. I was just glad Maz has that freight elevator.” He grins. “That damned thing is heavy. Nice though, especially for Ikea.”

“That’s the one. I’m going to let Rey use it if she likes it.” Poe motions to Rey with his head. “Let’s go look at it. We can bring the flatbed if you decide you want it.” She nods, following him as he walks to another unit a few rows over from hers.

And so the rest of the morning goes. By just after twelve, they’re done carrying her things up the stairs, and Poe is helping her unpack. Kes comes back up the stairs after one last check to be sure the U-Haul is empty. “Hey, Kids. I’m going to go return the U-Haul and get your car, mijo.”

“Dad, I can go with you.” Poe frowns.

Kes shakes his head. “No need. I’ll go get Bee, walk him, and bring him and your car here.”

Rey walks over to Kes, Poe close behind. “Thanks, Kes. I love little Bee. I have sodas and beer, and I was going to buy you both some pizza. I know Poe said you have to go back to Breckenridge; at least let me feed you before you go. I’m so grateful that you came over to help.”

“I never say no to free pizza, mija. That would be great, but just sodas for me. I’ll be back in under an hour. Poe knows what I like pizza-wise.” He smiles at her. “And it was no problem. I was happy to do it for you. You make my boy smile more than he has in years. For that reason alone, I’d do about anything for you.”

Rey blushes lightly, and Poe steps up and puts his hand on her back again. He can’t admonish his dad for that, given how much it’s true and how sincere it was. Rey answers softly, “He makes me smile too, Kes.”

Kes nods, and heads down the stairs, calling back that he’ll be back soon and telling them to order the pizza before they start making out. Rey snorts at that, but Poe drops his face into his hand. “And he was doing so well.”

X X X X X X

Rey puts her phone down on the coffee table after ordering pizza from the place Poe recommended. Awkward silence ensues. Since his dad’s comment about making out, Poe has been quiet except to recommend the pizza place and to tell her that his dad will eat pretty much whatever pizza they order. From her seat on the sofa, she looks over at Poe where he is unpacking her dishes in the kitchen.

She takes a deep breath and walks over to where he is, pushing herself up to jump onto the counter in the corner of the kitchen. He glances over at her but goes back to work. It becomes clear that he was horrified by his dad’s minor joke, and she wants to understand what it was about the comment that bothered him – the notion that she might be embarrassed or uncomfortable, or just the notion of making out with her.

Screwing up her courage, she asks, “Why aren’t we?”

He looks up sharply. “Why aren’t we what?”

“Making out. Why aren’t we making out right now?” She has never been this bold in her entire life, but she has the weird feeling that they’re both reticent for some reason or another.

He swallows hard, Adam’s apple working. He puts down the dish he was holding and walks over to her, seemingly trying to stand just out of reach. “Sunshine, I – ”

She shakes her head, and she shows him that he miscalculated the distance by reaching her leg out, hooking her foot around his waist and gently pulling him towards her. She’s relieved when he smiles in surprise and doesn’t resist at all. He comes to rest standing between her legs, and his hands brace on the counter on either side of her. She reaches out and brushes her hand through his hair, pushing a stray curl out of his eyes before cupping his cheek with her palm.

“I just didn’t want to push, Sunshine. I never want you to feel uncomfortable, and I’ll admit it, I haven’t dated anyone seriously since my ex-fiancée, who I met in high school.” He closes his eyes and leans into her hand as she mentally files away the fact that he’d been engaged to but clearly isn’t married to his high school sweetheart.

Just wanting complete clarity, she quietly asks, “So you do want me? You want this to be serious?”

His eyes open wide, and he nods. “I really do. To both. How about you?”

Instead of answering, she uses her hand on his face to pull him even closer. Both of their eyes flutter closed as she presses her lips to his. It’s sweet at first, but as they sink into each other and find the right angle, it intensifies. After a few moments, his hands move from the counter to her hips, gently gripping them as he moves her to the edge of the counter.

Her heels hook around the backs of his legs, and she gasps softly as they press against each other. He takes advantage of her intake of breath, his tongue dipping into her mouth. She makes a happy sound and wraps her arms around him so that there’s barely a millimeter of light passing between them. She meets his tongue with hers, and he growls deep in his throat. One of his hands splays on her lower back, pressing them together, while the other grips her hip even tighter. She’s completely lost in him, and it may be the best feeling she’s ever had.

X X X X X X

His mind goes blissfully blank at the feel of her body pressed to his, and he can honestly say that all of the fantasies he’s had of her in the last week don’t hold a candle to the real thing. The feel of her makes him think fleetingly of how immature his relationship was with Kay. When they finally begin to break apart to get some air, he bumps one of her braids out of the way and kisses his way down her neck, finding a sensitive spot behind her ear that makes her gasp and tighten the hand she has in his hair.

He straightens back up and captures her lips again, his hand coming up to tilt her head so that he can take command of the kiss this time. She responds enthusiastically, moving almost impossibly closer. He’s not sure how much time passes before his phone dings with a text message, making them move apart slightly, both of them panting a bit from lack of oxygen.

He stays close but reaches into his pocket to fumble for his phone. He pulls it out and then huffs out a laugh, turning the screen so that she can see it too, the screen displaying a text from his dad. “Be there in 5, you two, so stop making out. Really. You don’t want to scar me and Bee for life.”

She laughs too, a flush crawling up her cheeks. He presses his forehead to hers, their eyes meeting, and he says, “So, that means you want me and a serious relationship too, right?” She just laughs harder in response, kissing him again until they’re interrupted by Kes and Bee coming up the stairs.

Several hours later, it’s mostly dark in the small apartment, light being provided by the light over the sink in the kitchen and the glow of her TV screen. The small apartment is almost completely unpacked, and it looks homey and comfortable in a way even his townhouse doesn’t after two years. An old sci-fi movie is on, and he’s on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table. Rey is stretched out, her head on a pillow in Poe’s lap, and Bee is stretched out with her, emitting little snuffling snores.

He’s running a hand through Rey’s hair, long-since pulled from the braids. His other arm is draped over her protectively, and she keeps twining and untwining her fingers with his. The movie ends, and the screen goes dark. After a moment, he softly says, “You’re going to think I’m nuts, Sunshine, but I’m pretty sure this is the most at peace I’ve been since my mom died.”

“When was that?” She squeezes the hand entwined with hers.

“Twenty-five years ago, give or take.” He leans down and presses a gentle kiss to the side of her forehead that he can reach.

“Oh,” she says, rolling slightly to her back so she can look up at him. He leans down again and kisses her lips softly and almost chastely. When he pulls back up, she says, “I’m sorry. That’s so young to lose your mom. It’s hard.” He sees her swallow hard. “My parents died when I was about the same age. I was in foster care for a few months until they were able to locate my godparents and get me settled with them.”

“God, Sunshine, I’m sorry. At least I always had my dad and Maz, who was like a grandmother and a crazy aunt rolled into one.” It breaks his heart to think of her on her own like that. “Dad really likes you, by the way.”

She sits up, displacing Bee (who huffs out an annoyed breath) and snuggling into his side. He wraps his arm around her, and her head comes to rest on his good shoulder. “I like him, too. And Maz is awesome.”

“Yeah, she is.” He looks over and sees the clock on her cable box. “Wow, it’s almost 11. I should go home and let you get to bed.”

“Or you could –” She pauses, clearly unsure.

“Or I could what, Sunshine?” He lifts an eyebrow at her, but she just looks down. “Come on, Rey, what is it?” He tries to gently coax a reply from her.

“It’s silly.” She sighs, a little tense against him. “Could you stay? I’m not propositioning you. I will soon, but that’s not what this is. I’d just like to not sleep alone, you know?”

He goes warm all over at the notion of her propositioning him soon, but he has to scold himself back to the point. He thinks quickly and then nods. The truth is that there is very little that he’d deny this woman. “I have my gym bag in my car with some sweats in it that I can sleep in. I’ll take Bee out and grab it.”

He feels her relax again, so he squeezes her to him before releasing her and standing up. He goes to stretch, and his shoulder catches so badly that he must wince visibly. She’s on her feet almost immediately. “Are you OK?”

He nods. “Yeah, just a lot of lifting today. It’ll be fine tomorrow. Do you have any ibuprofen or Aleve?”

“Of course. I can get it out – I unpacked that box earlier.” She leans in and kisses him. “Do you need ice or aspercreme or anything?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. It’s just tight and sore.”

At her nod, he gets Bee on his leash and takes him downstairs. He’s back in under ten minutes. By the time he’s upstairs, she has changed into cropped PJ pants and a loose sweatshirt paired with some fuzzy socks, and she’s standing there with a bottle of water and a bottle of ibuprofen. He takes them from her with a grateful smile, and she motions to him to go use the bathroom. He goes in and is grateful again when he sees a new toothbrush still in its package on the counter.

When he emerges a short while later changed into cut-off sweats and his old USAF t-shirt, she’s already in the bed. It’s squeezed into the corner of the sleeping alcove, and she’s on the side by the wall. Her eyes are closed, and she’s curled up on her side facing what will be his side of the bed, with Bee snuggled in behind her. He snorts at that, and it makes her open her eyes. “I hope it’s OK that I let him in the bed.”

Poe shrugs, dousing the light as he climbs in next to her. “I always swore that he’d sleep on a dog bed on the floor, but yeah, he sleeps on my feet every night.”

The minute he’s settled, she scoots up to him, snuggling into his chest. He’s briefly surprised, and then he wraps his arms around her, pulling her close. He laughs softly when he hears Bee huff and follow her, tucking in behind Rey again. From her place in his chest, her voice muffled by his t-shirt, she says, “I may finally be warm sleeping tonight. I’m always cold at night.” She tangles her legs with his and sighs happily.

He chuckles and leans down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “Happy to oblige, Sunshine.”

It has been a very long time since he actually just slept with someone. He realizes very quickly that this may be a mistake, because the feel of her in his arms is one of the most comforting, relaxing things he’s ever experienced. As if she was reading his mind, she softly says, “Oh dear. I think I’m going to like this way too much, Poe. How am I going to sleep alone after this?”

“I know.” He leans away slightly, and she looks up, briefly capturing his lips in a sweet kiss. When they both pull back, he presses his forehead to hers again. “We’ll figure it out, Sunshine.”

She nods, clearly happy that he seems to feel the same as her. “Is the snuggling OK? I didn’t ask.”

“It’s absolutely OK. I like it.” He nuzzles the top of her head, and she sighs again. “Good night, Sunshine.”

He feels her smile against his chest as she nestles closer. “Good night, Flyboy.”


End file.
